Eurovision: Ireland booted out of contest in first semi-final, but Sweden sails through - full list of results

Ireland has been booted out of the Eurovision Song Contest after failing to qualify for the competition’s Grand Final. Dublin indie rock band Wild Youth were one of five acts who were eliminated during the first semi-final at Liverpool M&S Bank Arena last night (Tuesday, May 9).

Ireland has now failed to qualify on eight of their last 10 attempts, despite holding the record for the most Eurovision wins of all time - seven in total. The last time the country qualified was in 2018, when Ryan O’Shaughnessy entered with his song Together.

Ireland’s Eurovision commentator Marty Whelan struggled to hide his disappointment, saying live on RTÉ One: “Everything was absolutely perfect, they were fantastic. There’s things I want to say, there’s things I want to share.

“You can probably get it from the tone of my voice, what I’m thinking, that this is... Ugh, this is just such a shame. But the votes didn’t come.

“So we are not qualifying again this year from Liverpool when we had great expectations, as the famous book says.” Wild Youth weren’t the only rock band to fare badly, with Malta’s The Busker and Latvia’s Sudden Lights losing their spot in the competition.

The other artists on the chopping block were Azerbaijani twins TuralTuranX and the Netherlands’ Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper. Meanwhile, Sweden’s Loreen sailed through to the Grand Final.

The star, who has been hailed as this year’s favourite, previously won the competition in 2012. Ten more acts will now compete in Thursday’s (May 11) second semi-final.

The “Big Five” countries, who contribute the most financially to the competition (France, Germany, Spain, the UK and Italy) qualify automatically - as do last year’s winners Ukraine. Liverpool is hosting the competition on Ukraine’s behalf, due to the country’s ongoing war with Russia.

The 10 countries that made it through the first Eurovision 2023 Semi-Final

Here is the full list of countries that made the cut in the first Semi-Final.

• Norway: Alessandra - Queen Of Kings
• Serbia: Luke Black - Samo Mi Se Spava
• Portugal: Mimicat - Ai Coração
• Croatia: Let 3 - Mama ŠČ!
• Switzerland: Remo Forrer - Watergun
• Israel: Noa Kirel - Unicorn
• Moldova: Pasha Parfeni - Soarele Si Luna
• Sweden: Loreen - Tattoo
• Czechia: Vesna - My Sister’s Crown
• Finland: Käärijä - Cha Cha Cha

You can read more about the second Semi-Final and Grand Final, plus details on how to watch and vote in the main competition, in our Eurovision guide.